


Unconventional

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 17:09:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6017953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Oh, trust me, Hawke's interested in anything that you do," Varric said. "You can't be thinking of not doing anything!"</p>
  <p>Fenris paused. Pushed ahead. "... Is this a necessary step in a relationship?"</p>
  <p>"Well, no," Varric said, taking a drink. "You don't have to. Some people like it. Most people, I think. Shit, Broody, I guess I'm an old sentimentalist. You should show how much you love your partner everyday, but it's nice to do a little extra on the special days."</p>
</blockquote><hr/><p>AKA: Fenris + Valentine's Day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unconventional

**Author's Note:**

> It's still Valentine's Day for me! Barely. I wasn't going to write a thing and then I decided to write a thing and I meant it to be short? Yeah, that didn't happen. Anyway, FenHawke, with a side of Isabela/Merrill, and everyone else, too. :3
> 
> I do not own _Dragon Age II_. Thanks for reading!

"It's a day all specific for love!" Merrill chirped, glancing amongst the trinkets, already wilting flowers, and various imported Orlesian sweets.

"Come on, Kitten, you don't need those when you've got me," Isabela said, slinging her arms around Merrill's neck. "You've got a Captain of a ship - although I don't _have_ a ship right now - what else could you need?"

Merrill giggled as Isabela leaned down to peck her cheek, as Fenris stared on thoughtfully. This... upcoming holiday. He knew nothing of it. According to the Dalish elf, it was a day meant for romance?

Fenris passed a glance towards Hawke, who was busy eyeing the weapons nearby. He seemed unperturbed by this romantic holiday, and focused on tactics for upcoming battles.

A soft frown, but his thoughts were disturbed by Merrill brushing past him as she went to look at other stands in the marketplace.

"I'll take one of these," Isabela said softly to the sweets vendor. "Quickly, now!"

"I thought she didn't need them as long as she had you," Fenris remarked.

Isabela grinned, shoving the box into her bag. "Need and want are two different things, honey. We'll share them, later," she said, with a suggestive waggle of her eyebrows.

Then she was gone, sidling up to Merrill without pause. Fenris looked back at the selection of sweets. Tilted his head slightly.

 

 

"I can't tonight, Fenris, I'm sorry."

Fenris raised an eyebrow, looking at the mismatched bunch of wildflowers Donnic had behind his back.

"Yeah, I have a... I mean, Aveline and I..."

"I see."

"Cards next week for sure, though," Donnic said. "I still have to get my fifty silvers back, don't think I've forgotten."

"Never." Fenris's eyes flicked to the bouquet of flowers. "Is today the... that holiday? For significant others?"

Donnic shook his head. "No, not yet, but we won't have time later this week."

Fenris wondered if it was a celebratory rite of passage. He wouldn't know. He wondered if Hawke expected something. He wondered what Hawke would like.

"Very well," he said aloud. "Have..." He searched for a word. "... a good time." It came out sounding like a question, but Donnic nodded nonetheless.

"We will!"

Fenris closed the door, and looked around the dilapidated mansion.

 

 

"Any plans for the holiday, Broody?"

Fenris looked up from the swill he was drinking, turning his attention away from darker thoughts and to Varric. "What?"

"Doing something for Hawke?"

This again. Clearly it was important, and Fenris was beginning to be wary of his lack of knowledge on the subject. Dating, and the rules and regulations involved... were lost on him. "I'm not sure that Hawke is interested," he admitted. A half truth.

"Oh, trust me, Hawke's interested in anything that you do," Varric said. "You can't be thinking of _not_ doing anything!"

Fenris paused. Pushed ahead. "... Is this a necessary step in a relationship?"

"Well, no," Varric said, taking a drink. "You don't have to. Some people like it. Most people, I think. Shit, Broody, I guess I'm an old sentimentalist. You should show how much you love your partner everyday, but it's nice to do a little extra on the special days."

"I'm not sure... what to do," Fenris said slowly.

And then he jumped as a familiar hand closed around his shoulder, turning his head to look up at Hawke.

"I hoped you both would be here," Hawke said, tugging on his chainmail. "Duty calls. You coming?"

Fenris stood up. "Yes." Deflect this conversation... leave the thought for later, when he would mull over it in silence and, now? Just a touch of worry. So many things had gone off course with their relationship. Fenris had never stopped being in love with him, and he didn't want to do anything that would ruin what they had rebuilt.

"Right behind you, Hawke," Varric said, and they headed out of the Hanged Man.

 

 

"Any romantic plans, then? You and... Fenris?"

Hawke looked at Anders, eyebrows flying up to his hairline. "Do you really want to know?"

Anders smiled wryly. "Not really." He held out his hands. "Conversation's all been around everyone's plans. Some of them... some of them I didn't need to hear about, either." He grimaced.

"Oh, do tell."

Anders laughed. "Doctor-patient confidentiality. Trust me, you don't want to know. Although someone's getting a kitten. A rare breed from Orlais, even."

"You're jealous?" Hawke asked.

"I'm jealous of my friend in Amaranthine, poor Ser Pounce-a-lot." Anders handed the package to Hawke, finally collecting the poultice they had come here for on request.

Fenris lurked in the doorway, arms braced against the wall. Even the abomination... and kittens? Did Hawke wish to receive a young cat for this romantic day? It seemed... ridiculous, and Fenris had no notion to follow the abomination's recommendations for what to give a partner to express love.

... Although Fenris still hadn't figured out _anything_ , nothing worse or better than the idea of a small, live animal. When he thought he had come up with something satisfactory, there was always something to dissuade him. And he was still at the starting line, nowhere closer to where he had been before he had started to learn about this romantic endeavor.

He glanced down at the scrap of silk wound so expertly around his wrist. Hawke had given that to him, years ago, and Fenris had treated it with care. He traced his fingers against a few of the fraying edges, thinking.

It didn't have to be a huge event, he expected. As long as it was important. As long as it meant something.

"Ready to go?"

Fenris started back to reality, looking up at Hawke. "Yes." He dropped his hand, shoving away from the wall.

"You're looking pensive. What's on your mind?

Fenris shrugged. "Nothing of import."

"I'm sure it's important, if you're thinking it," Hawke said, reaching over to grab Fenris's hand.

It was something that Fenris never expected... these casual declaration of love and adoration. Hawke's fingers against his, skin against skin... It was something that he never expected, had never wanted, and now... he kind of even... _liked_ it.

Fenris stretched up to press his lips against Hawke's cheek. Except Hawke turned at the same exact time, and he ended up with his lips, instead. He was certain that he was as red as the dying embers in a fire, and still, he did not pull away.

"Ah." Hawke smiled. "You could do that more often, you know. I wouldn't complain."

Fenris swallowed, and turned his face away. Hawke was usually the one who initiated these casual displays of affection in public. It had taken Fenris awhile to get used to them, and now he didn't mind them sparingly. But Hawke was right; Fenris didn't usually lean over to kiss him first.

Not for lack of want, however.

"Don't push it," he murmured.

Hawke laughed and wrapped his arm around Fenris's waist, pulling the elf closer to his body.

 

 

"Excuse me, serah, is everything well?"

"Fine!" Fenris snapped, waving the passerby off with a wave of his hand. He probably looked strange, certainly. This was his... he wasn't even certain how many times he had paced the cement slabs near the Hawke manor.

The passerby moved on, leaving Fenris to continue pacing.

How hard could this be? All he had to do was knock, say a few words. Do a few things. He could put his fist through a man's chest, pull their warm and bleeding heart from their body, and yet words continued to fail him here, when it mattered the most.

He growled and spun on heel, again, beginning the circuit for the umpteenth time.

He didn't know how long he paced, back and forth, back and forth, until-

"Fenris?"

Fenris breathed out slowly, and turned to face Hawke. "Hawke," he greeted.

Hawke crossed the distance between them. "Someone told me that you've been lurking out here. Didn't know how to knock?" he teased. "Are you going to come in, or what?"

"No." Fenris paused, and then shook his head. "Yes. I... need to talk to you." He rubbed his fingers against his forehead, trying to smooth out the wrinkles and the pain beneath his skin.

The teasing was immediately gone from Hawke's face, replaced with a serious look that Fenris had seen only one before... when he had walked out, three years ago now. Hawke automatically expected something bad, when Fenris said that they needed to talk.

In all honesty, Fenris would have expected the same.

But that wasn't what he had intended to make Hawke think. Already he was ruining this. "Hawke..." He groaned, and stepped forward three paces to grab ahold of the front of Hawke's ornately designed, silken to the touch finery. And he pushed him back against the wall, against the cement and the ivy growing, and kissed him full on the mouth.

It didn't matter who saw. It didn't matter if anyone saw, if everyone did, it only mattered between him and Hawke, and how they felt.

It was exponentially easier thought than done.

But Fenris gripped tightly at Hawke's arm and kissed him deeply, slipping his knee between the man's thighs and splaying his fingers back against the wall. His heart soared, his body ached. It felt like he was on fire, and he kept his eyes closed to avoid seeing the flickers of his lyrium jerking to life and settling again.

And he kissed him until he was out of breath, until his lips hurt and Hawke was breathing heavily beneath his touch. His heart hammered in his chest, and he could feel the prying eyes of Kirkwall on his back. He dared not look around; he would be ridiculed for his very existence, much less his desire towards the one Champion, and while he hurt from head to toe - physical pain - it could not extinguish the flame of emotion... _happiness_... rushing through his body with the adrenaline.

It was leaving him weak-kneed, though, and he held onto Hawke as a means to hold himself upright now, too.

"That..." Hawke trailed off. He looked at him for a beat, and then swept a piece of Fenris's hair out of his face. "You didn't have to do that, Fenris," he said softly. It must have been showing, how difficult it had been.

Fenris did not regret it. Finding his courage... was a new sort of battle for him. It was a battle he was willing to fight, now that Danarius was dead and gone. He had learned that he was uneasy without a purpose. At first, his intention had been to serve his master. It had grown into a need for revenge. With both of those gone, now it was mostly... adoration. Adoration, and the need to learn to trust again.

"I love you." The words slipped out of his mouth without thought. Certainly he had pondered over his ability or inability to say those small words. Agonized, even. And here they had poured from his lips without a moment's pause, and Fenris felt his face flame up again.

The need to learn to love again.

The look of surprise on Hawke's face was worth all of his inner turmoil. First surprise, and then a small worry, probably concerned about pushing Fenris too far, too fast, again, but then wonder and glee and... devotion. Love. Respect.

Fenris looked away. "I... have been plagued by this holiday. Reminders everywhere. I am not familiar with these celebrations and I did not know if you expected to receive something. And still, I could not..." he trailed off, closing his eyes. "I could think of nothing more important to give you than this. My words... myself. I love you," he repeated, and the words felt slightly more awkward on his tongue now that he was focusing, but they did not feel wrong.

He had told Hawke, before, that he was his. That was unchanging. He was his, and he loved him for accepting him. He loved him for everything.

Hawke was silent for a moment before pulling the elf into a hug that crushed the very air from Fenris's lungs, and even then all he could do was huff a laugh as he pressed his face into Hawke's neck.

"I love you, too, Fenris," he said, and from his lips, it sounded less a statement and more a vow.

Fenris would die of embarrassment, die from the feelings he and this man shared, certainly. He continued to smile against the Champion's skin.

Hawke continued to hold him for a long moment, rubbing idle patterns into his skin with one of his thumbs. Fenris suspected that he could stay like this forever, if only people did not need them and if they were not in the midst of a brewing war. But Fenris could not think about that, could only focus on Hawke's touch on his shoulder and Hawke's breath against his ear and his own hands fisted into Hawke's clothes.

"Makes my gift seem lackluster," Hawke remarked, after some time. "All I got was a bottle of wine," he said sarcastically.

Again a laugh was drawn from Fenris's lips as he pulled away, looking up at Hawke. "I would not say no to that."

Hawke smiled softly, and kissed his forehead through the wispy hair covering the markings there. "I didn't think you would mind." He caught Fenris's hand and gestured to the door. "I've also gotten chocolates, if you like that sort of thing. Apples, if you don't."

"Apples... you're so romantic," Fenris intoned in a teasing sort of way, allowing Hawke to lead him into the estate.

 


End file.
